Odors from the ChemWorks waste treatment plant had affected homes and businesses. The firm is now moving to Menomonee Falls.

No one in the Martin Drive neighborhood on Milwaukee's west side will be sad to see ChemWorks leave town.

After several years of complaining to City Hall about sickening odors likely coming from the industrial waste treatment and disposal company on W. McKinley Ave., residents said they are relieved and anticipating fresher air after getting news of the company's move to Menomonee Falls this year.

City Neighborhood Services Commissioner Art Dahlberg declared the company a "public nuisance" last summer for its recurring stench.

And MillerCoors closed its visitors center on W. State St., starting place for brewery tours, on two days last year — July 17 and 18 — due to telltale chemical odors, a brewery spokesman said.

In April, ChemWorks will begin relocating wastewater processing equipment to a building on N. Lilly Road in the village, and gradually decrease the volume of waste treated and stored on the west side, according to a facility closing plan submitted to the Department of Neighborhood Services. The move to an industrial corridor south of Mill Road will be completed by September.

Raymond Duncan is looking forward to a summer of smelling meat cooking on grills in the neighborhood instead of sporadic foul odors that kept many families indoors in past years, Duncan said.

ChemWorks, a division of Advanced Waste Services Inc. of West Allis, is at 3801 W. McKinley Ave., north of Miller Valley and east of Martin Drive.

In late July, Dahlberg ordered the company to hire a consultant to help control odors and provide the city with a final plan. Dahlberg also ordered ChemWorks to halt an unauthorized practice of adding chlorine to wastewater to mask other odors.

Offensive smells have disrupted the neighborhood's occasional outdoor movie nights at a community garden and spurred the establishment of a network of volunteers willing to alert residents and city officials to the latest stink, Duncan said. He and other volunteers document the time and date of each incident.

Since 2007, odors from the plant have been described as garlicky, sour and similar to natural gas. Residents complained odors occasionally irritated eyes and throats, and made them sick.

"It's nice to be done with a problem," Duncan said of the pending move of ChemWorks. "It feels like a huge victory."

Advanced Waste Services President Mike Malatesta said the company is renovating a building in Menomonee Falls for its ChemWorks plant.

In planning the expansion of ChemWorks, Malatesta concluded the company's prospects for growth were limited at the McKinley Ave. location, he said.

"We made a lot of changes to mitigate the likelihood of odors" from the plant being released, Malatesta said. The changes included sealing rooftop air vents, sealing sewer manhole covers, closing vehicle access doors between shipments, and building a special air filter.

Air from inside the plant is vented through the in-ground filter to remove particles and objectionable odors, he said.

Ald. Mike Murphy, whose district includes many families affected by the odors, said the waste processing plant should be located in a less-urbanized area so it would not affect daily lives of residents and the activities of other area businesses.

The property on W. McKinley Ave. is appropriate for other types of small industries, and the space will be reoccupied quickly by another employer, according to Murphy.

ChemWorks collects nonhazardous wastewater from manufacturers and removes contaminants, such as metals and oil, before discharging remaining wastewater to city sewers under a permit with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.

Tests of wastewater confirmed seven additional permit violations in 2013, according to Peter Topczewski, the district's director of water quality protection. The company was notified of the violations, but no other enforcement action will be taken.

About Don Behm

Don Behm reports on the environment, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and communities in southeastern Wisconsin. Behm has won reporting awards for investigations of Great Lakes water pollution, improper disposal of radioactive waste from nuclear weapons production, Milwaukee's cryptosporidiosis outbreak and the deaths of three sewer construction workers in a Menomonee Valley methane explosion.